The present invention relates to a distance measuring instrument and a distance measuring method.
In particular, the invention relates to a distance measuring instrument and method where modulated measuring light is emitted towards an object and wherein measuring light received back from the object is detected and analyzed. A value representing a distance from the object is determined based on such analysis.
A conventional distance measuring instrument comprises a laser generating pulses of measuring light, and optics to direct the pulses of measuring light towards an object. Pulses of measuring light received back from the object are supplied to a light sensor to generate electrical signals corresponding to the light pulses, and the electrical pulse signals are amplified and analyzed. The analysis includes determination of occurrence times between subsequent pulses to determine the distance from the object based on the determined occurrence times.
It has been found that the conventional distance measuring instruments and methods could be improved with respect to at least one of measurement accuracy, measurement speed and distance measuring range.